# retch
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɹɛt͡ʃ/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛtʃ
* Homophone: wretch

### Etymology 1

From Middle English *recchen, *rechen (attested in arechen), hræcen (“to cough up”), from Old English hrǣċan (“to clear the throat, hawk, spit”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrākijan, from Proto-Germanic *hrēkijaną (“to clear one's throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreg- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Icelandic hrækja (“to hawk, spit”), Limburgish räöke (“to induce vomiting”), Bavarian reckn (“to retch, gag”) and German recken (“to retch, gag”). Also related with German Rachen (“throat”).

#### Alternative forms

* reach (archaic or dialectal)

#### Verb

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched)
* (transitive, intransitive) To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
** 1819–1824, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London, (please specify |canto=I to XVII):Here he grew inarticulate with retching.
* (transitive, intransitive, loosely) To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit.
** 1836, The Medico-chirurgical Review, and Journal of Practical Medicine, page 462:[…] in a couple of hours they were seized with violent retching; the contents of their stomachs were mixed with blood, mucus, and froth.
** 1891, Cincinnati Medical Advance, page 101:[…] severe, with a heavy retching; the contents of the stomach would come up rather easily at first, but as it continued the retching became more severe. By the straining to vomit, all the symptoms were […]
** 2014 April 7, Rob Gittins, The Poet and the Private Eye, Y Lolfa, →ISBN:[…] retching the contents of his breakfast – his fabled raw eggs and beer by the look of it – up onto the sidewalk. But some sort of salvation seemed to be at hand in the shape of a young woman who now came up to the retching poet. […]
** 2014 June 4, Jake E. Sampson, The Resurrectionist, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 37:“What manner of being are you?” I cried. The creature's black tar viscera flew from the lacerated stump, covering Mary and myself in the fluid. I recall instantly retching the contents of my stomach, while simultaneously […]
** 2020 August 11, Tony Bertauski, Maze: The Essence of Sunny Grimm, Tony Bertauski:Retching the contents from his lungs. The uncomfortable warble of voices called for help, greeting him at the floor. He was laid on a gurney, the slimy contents wiped from his face. The sting of needles inserted in his arms.

##### Translations
#### Noun

retch (plural retches)
* An unsuccessful effort to vomit.

##### Derived terms

* all retch and no vomit

##### Translations
#### See also

* heave

### Etymology 2

From Middle English recchen (“to care; heed”), from Old English rēċċan, variant of rēċan (“to care; reck”), from Proto-Germanic *rōkijaną (“to care”), from Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- (“straight, right, just”).

#### Verb

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched)
* (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To reck.

##### Related terms

* retchless

### Etymology 3

From Middle English recchen, from Old English reċċan (“to stretch, extend”), from Proto-West Germanic *rakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *rakjaną (“to straighten, stretch”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃roǵéyeti.

#### Verb

retch (third-person singular simple present retches, present participle retching, simple past and past participle retched or (obsolete) raught)
* (dialectal) Alternative form of reach

### Anagrams

* ECtHR, chert, Recht